i love it when all the footy haters gather and slam the sport. it really shows how little they actually know. just remember lads, the cup is in manchester, the big red building. you can't miss it. pop in some time. if both teams took their chances and scored it would of been 3-3 and would still of gone to pens. i do agree that if drogba had not of been sent off he would of been in JT's place and that would of been that. but you have to remember that drogba slapped vidic. his own action. even a windowlicker would of sent him off for that. is it man utds fault that the ref was incinsistant? no, not one bit. was it lucky for van der sar to save anelka's shot? no, van der sar fainted (his) right and anelka took it. text book goal keepers penalty imo. would you of bet ronaldo to miss his? no. out of all the players, he would of been top of everyones list to score. when ronaldo does his run-stop-run approach on pens, he always shoots left and low. cech would of known this. which would of made ronaldos random run up alot more predictable.
if van der sar had of done his homework, he would of known that lampard has kicked his last few pens low and right (keepers left).
yes it was a tight game, full of drama. utd won the first half imo and chelsea won the 2nd. extra time was a tired and sloppy display. penalties are not the way to end a final. it says it in the name, PENALTY. why should both teams be penalised for playing a stalemate for 2 hours.
this thread is funnier than the GTA IV on PC thread.
Well said Blade, thank god some people accept defeat rather than going all bitter and blaming everyone else.
Some lesser people would blame the referee, claim they were the better team despite having only 1 shot on target in 120 minutes, which was put on a plate for them. Chin up ey!
Over £300m on players, the biggest game in the clubs history, and just 1 shot on target. Thats the stuff European champions are made of that is.
btw, those rules you outlined they are in rulebook, seriously!
Look up crowding the referee every time theres a decision to be made, and its okay if your in a Chewsee shirt, and then look at the rule below it, thats it right there! infact, if you look underneith the Utd rule, theres also the rule about chewsee being fine to hoof the ball from one end of the pitch to the other letting it go out for a throwing near the goal line (twice! despite Utd playing the first one straight to A.Coles feet) but the instance someone else does it, its okay to all crowd and bully him.
Theres plenty of these rules which nobody ever seems to notice isnt there, its like the one about Liverpool being fine to field crap (intentionally crap ) teams before big games if it means sod all to them, regardless of the fact that it has major significance to the team being given the 3pts. 2 seasons, Fulham have been saved from relegation on the last day of the season, the 3pts picked up against a weakend Scouse side kept them in the Premiership, but the rules say its perfectly okay, not unfair to the other teams they've actually made an effort against, and we all get on with it.
I dont know why, but part of me (the stupid parts i guess) kinda feel sorry for Chelsea, they played a fairly entertaining game instead of their traditional boring snoozefest game, they had their chances to win the game, and nobody deserves to lose on penalties, particularly in the way it happened... But a far larger part of me says good, i hate the Scousers considerably more, and i can admire Arsenals play (when they're not fouling people), but Chelsea play intentionally dull football, but at least both of them (LFC & AFC) got to where they are through their own success on the pitch, like United, and not through someones open checkbook in a way that is effectively cripling the club because it'll never be able to manage itself if the checkbook suddenly closed. Madrid are the same, having their debts wiped constantly and land being freely given to the club to train on, then a few years later conveniently being bought back at a stupidly inflated rate, magically giving them a huge profit.
There are significant elements of the way United is run which i hate as a ST holding manc, but the wages account for ~50% of the profit made just like all but a few of Prem teams (Chelsea & Newcastle being 2) and players purchased are done so from competition money, tv money, and ticket sales.... no different to any other traditional club. Maybe a lot of our success is bought, but its bought with our (utd) money, made from our success.
O/T:
Isnt it funny how United fans were up in arms when the Glazers wanted to buy United, borrow hundreds of millions while putting in a fraction of the money themselves, and once purchased, moving the debt off their heads and into the clubs name instead, putting a hugely profitable club (£20m/yr profit, after signings etc) into hundreds of millions of debt. FA's fair and proper check says thats all fine and dandy.
Ticket prices went up over 50% in the first 2 years, the 2nd year of which all ST holders were forced to purchase tickets for EVERY competitive home game, if they didnt want it, they could sell the ticket on a somehow legalised ticket touting website the club would profit off.
United fans, still not happy with their owners.
Liverpool fans welcome anyone they're stupid enough to wave a few quid at, ploughing debt into their club. FA's fair and proper check says thats smashing.
Both owners soon start slagging each other off, refusing to agree on transfers & policies, create unrest within the club, and it generates plenty of negative publicity about them.
Liverpool fans apparently arent too impressed with their wonderful owners these days.
Man City fans start partying when someone comes along claiming to be putting millions into transfers, CL football and everything else they're stupid enough to believe. FA's fair and proper check doesnt mind the reports of the abuse of human rights, nor the fact that his finances had been frozen due to corruption charges.
Shinawatra has laughably claimed to be bringing in Ronaldinho in the summer, is all set to sack their most successful manager since the premiership began, and has basically put the whole squad up for sale and plenty of their players are more than happy to get the heck out. Solicitors still havent recieved payments for the clubs purchase almost a year ago, and no real money has been spent on players despite claims of tens of millions in the kitty.
City fans apparently feel differently about their new owners.
Its a funny game isnt it, you just cant help some people, its only when the reality hits home of what you've actually stood by and allowed to be done to YOUR club, that you realise what a prat you've been.
I guess there are a lot of people like that, who's team is incapable of mounting a realistic challenge for the league title, and have been 'turning the corner' so many times they're getting dizzy.
Here here! Wouldnt it be great seeing Phil Neville lifting a major trophy at Goodison!
Lets be fair, we hated Man Utd a long time before we became impotent in the league
(Actually hate is the the wrong word for me. I don't hate any team. I got over hating many years ago, along with the realisation that footy is just a sport, no matter what some people think.
Life's to short for hate )
I can't say i wasn't expecting an answer like that, though i thought you were going to pick Tranmere
I disagree. As finals go it was a pretty entertaining game. You never knew who would win it, and the match seemed to fly by, always a sign of an entertaining game.
I wanted it to be crap, but found myself unable to take my eyes off it. I cant stand watching either team play usually.
Meh. Lots of overpaid "stars" doing nothing special, best effort of the night was Lampard's turning strike that didn't go in, or Evra's run to set up the Giggs/Terry duel. Maybe the pitch had something to do with it but I expect a better performance than that from the two most expensive teams in Europe.
Considering what you usually end up with in cup finals these days, it was quite good. I think the result was fair in the end, the ref was a bit crap but he was equally crap to both teams, Chelsea hit the woodwork a lot but Man Utd always looked more dangerous when they attacked.
As a neutral supporter I wanted Man Utd to win, its funny how everyone I asked seemed to think the same. I think its the style of football Man Utd play, they never sit on a 1-0 scoreline and play for the whistle, and Fergie always finds the most entertaining and talented players. I was dissapointed that Liverpool didn't get to the final, they show so much passion for the competition, and their win a couple of years ago has to be the best cup victory of all time.
Oh yes, THAT is how a final should be. Down 0-3 against AC Mailand at halftime and still winning after the penalties. Most exciting football match I ever saw, tbh.
Or their UEFA-Cup final in 2001 against Alaves: winning 5:4 after overtime, 4:4 after 90 minutes. THIS is how finals of the most important cups in football should be!!
I think those two shouldn't even be allowed to play in the CL, i mean todays Champions League is a championship between 1º/2/3/4º teams of England, Italy and Spain...what is this ? Champions of what ? No wonder some teams give a damn to the domestic league and instead try to qualify for the CL to gain money.
there's alot more than just english and spanish teams. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/clubs/index.html
imo, there's a good balance. i think it might seem that there's more english clubs because they have been doing so good in the champions league for years.
as a fan of football, i have to say that this season in the EPL and SPL, the football has been close, right to the finish. that hasn't really happened much.
Seriously get a proper accent and drink some gravy, next time maybe the cup will be down south!
) teams before big games if it means sod all to them, regardless of the fact that it has major significance to the team being given the 3pts. 2 seasons, Fulham have been saved from relegation on the last day of the season, the 3pts picked up against a weakend Scouse side kept them in the Premiership, but the rules say its perfectly okay, not unfair to the other teams they've actually made an effort against, and we all get on with it.
